Today we’d like to introduce you to John Edward Ryder.
John Edward, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I moved out to Los Angeles almost 2 years ago to pursue more opportunities with my music. For the first year and a half I lived out of my car writing and releasing two EPs; one for each of my projects Plsticme and Empires of Delirium. I’d park just south of Sunset Blvd. and make me up and along Hollywood Blvd to rehearse at the Music Institute. My band Plsticme played a handful of shows this past year and are currently gearing up for the recording process yet again.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I am a musician, songwriter, composer, engineer, producer–the list goes on and on. My main focus at the moment is my band Plsticme. Currently we are finishing up the demos and looking for the right studios to record the official EP in.
I have learned that when you are a smaller band or solo artist you get the struggle and opportunity to confront many different learning curves in pursuit of satisfaction in what you are trying to accomplish. I might hear something in real life or on a record and be like “wow!” that makes me feel this way and how do I create that. In my band I write a majority of everything, not because I feel the need for control but because it just happened to be that way. I learned from a young age if you want to get something done you can’t rely on someone else to get you there. I do hope in the future that it’ll become more collaborative but we shall see.
When it comes to inspiration for what I create, I look at what’s going on in the world today. I see violence, hate, imbalance of social rights, and horrible spread of economics and wealth…I also see a lot of materialistic values. So, in the music I create I try to hold a mirror to these “problems” and reflect back what I see to invoke questions. If I could wish for what people got out of my music it’d be for self-reflection and for a more fundamental community. I truly believe at certain point rock N roll and live music will have a resurgence in popular culture and give that edge back that we truly need as a society.
What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
I think if you can reach somebody on a personal level then you’ve had success. As far as success we are striving for we want to tour as much as we can! I think going on stage and knocking the audience out of their shoes is success. It’s not about money, drugs, or getting laid. People who see that as success are quite lame and are only skin deep.
To achieve success in anything I think it’s most important to have the Will to do what is necessary. Sometimes that means losing relationships, money, or traveling far. Also, it takes time… Only a small number of people get overnight success and although that would be nice, for the most of us it’s the slow grind. So, if you want to do something in life my best piece of advice would be to do “that thing” every single day.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Like with everything at the moment, “social media is huge!” So, finding us on Facebook, Instagram, twitter, YouTube (at Plsticme) and dropping us a like or a subscribe and checking out the content we put out. Currently we have promo videos circulating with the new direction of sounds which we are going–Some of our older content is on iTunes, Spotify, and Apple Music. If you like bands like Underoath, Saosin, my chemical romance or 30 seconds to mars; I highly recommend checking us out.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/plsticme/ https://www.instagram.com/johnedwardryder/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PLSTICME
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/plsticme
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC20PH1IfXajH6cxvTLscz_Q
Image Credit:
John Ryder photography
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